Already Yours
by purplepagoda
Summary: After a series of unfortunate events, will Mary finally see that there is only one guy for her? Will she finally see, that Marshall is the guy for her? Or will she ruin their relationship?
1. Chapter 1

She stares at the bottle of wine, longingly. She looks down, at her shopping cart. She makes the sudden realization, that there is no Norah in her cart. She reaches for her belt. Her fingers reach for her phone. Her brain stops her. Norah, is with Marshall, for the night.

She stares at the bottle, struggling to reconcile her feelings. All she wants was a night at home, alone, on the couch, with the TV, and a glass of wine. As, she exhales, she struggles to believe it. Her glance falls, from the bottle, sitting on the shelf, to the phone, strapped to her waist. The, truth, being, all she really wants is to be at home, with her daughter, sleeping in her arms. She is about to turn, and leave, when a voice from her past, catches her off guard.

"Big plans for the night?"

She turns, and looks at the man, standing behind her. She smiles, against her will, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm in town for a few days."

"How have you been?"

"Good. You?"

"Great."

"It looks like you're going to have a big night, if you can decide which one to take home," he points to the shelf of wine.

"I think I'm going to pass, this time. I'm just going to go home, and catch up on my sleep."

"That's not the Mary I know. The Mary I know doesn't sleep."

"She doesn't these days. Bobby, you know there is this myth, that babies are sweet, and cute, and perfect. And they are sweet, and cute, but they are not perfect. They rarely sleep when you want them to. And mine, wants to be awake, every second I am."

"You have a kid?"

"Yes," she whips out her phone. She holds it up for him to see.

He stares at the picture on her phone, "Unbelievable."

"Unbelievable? Really?"

"I never pictured you as someone who likes kids."

"I don't."

"Yet, you have one."

"It was certainly not ever part of my plan, she sort of just happened."

"I see."

"I mean, don't get me wrong, I like my kid. I love her..."

"How old is she?"

"She's almost seven months old."

"And how are you balancing work, and raising a baby?"

"I'm not very good at it."

"Your husband, helps?"

"Ha. That's funny. No husband."

"You're still afraid of commitment?"

"What? No? I am committed, to raising Norah."

"But not to a man?"

"No."

"Her father?"

"Is my ex. We're not together, and we're not ever going to be."

"So she's at home?"

"Actually, Marshall is babysitting, tonight."

"You let him baby-sit?"

"His girlfriend, or whatever she is, this week, is with him."

"And you're ok with that?"

"I am trying to be. It's the first time I have let anyone keep her overnight."

"That's a big step."

"It's a lot harder than I ever anticipated."

"So you don't have big plans?"

She looks at her watch, "It's seven thirty now. I'll run my groceries home, take a shower, and try to catch up on laundry. By ten o'clock I will probably be over at Marshall's collecting my child."

"When did you drop her off?"

"Fifteen minutes ago."

"You don't think he can even last three hours?"

"He might be able to, but I doubt that I will."

"I see. Maybe you need a distraction."

"What do you propose?"

"Dinner?"

"Bobby, I don't know."

"Believe it or not, I may have missed you guys, a little. Of course if you tell anyone that, I will flatly deny it."

"You missed me?"

"I missed certain qualities about you."

"For example?"

"Your instinct to protect everyone around you, to a fault."

"Ouch."

"So, what do you say? Can I buy you dinner?"

"You're buying?"

"Yeah."

"Ok," she agrees.

745 AM- She rolls over, and looks at the clock. She rubs her eyes, realizing that she has to be at Marshall's to pick up Norah in fifteen minutes. She quickly comes to the startling realization, that there is a hand around her waist. She rolls back over. She stares at the sleeping face of a bald-headed man. She shakes him violently.

"Hm?" he groans.

"Get up! Get dressed! You've got to go!"

"Go?"

"I have to go pick up Norah. You've got to go."

He opens his eyes, and looks at her.

"We shouldn't have gone for Mexican last night," he realizes.

"No, kidding."

"I'll leave."

"I think that's best."

"Things are going to be weird between us, now, aren't they?"

"Probably," she purses her lips, and nods her head, as she frantically tries to get dressed.

"I'm sorry."

"This was a mistake," she tells him.

"Agreed. This should never have happened. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. Just, go back to Chicago, and we'll pretend that this never happened.""And when I come back to Albuquerque?"

"We'll deal with it then. I have to go get my daughter. Let yourself out."


	2. Chapter 2

She pulls into Marshall's driveway, and braces herself for the day ahead. She takes her keys out of the ignition, and climbs out of the mini-van. She heads up the sidewalk, to his door. She knocks.

Marshall answers the door, with Norah in his arms. Norah's face lights up, when she sees Mary. She squeals in excitement. Mary takes her from Marshall, as she steps into the house. He closes the door behind her.

"I think that I've got all of her stuff back together."

Mary looks around, and takes note of the person who is notably missing.

"Where is Abigail."

"She's not here."

"I can see that. She's already at work? I thought that today was her day off."

"It was."

"Marshall, what's going on here?"

"She got a call, around nine."

"Nine? Last night?"

"Yes," he confirms.

"She left?"

"Not before we had a blowout."

"You argued in front of my kid?"

"No, she was sound asleep. What have you done to her? She slept through the dog barking at three o'clock this morning."

"When I first brought her home she would cry, and cry. Finally one day she was crying, and I was just trying to get some things done. I put her in her crib, and let her cry. I started vacuuming, and it stopped. She fell asleep. I guess white noise soothes her."

"So how was your night?"

Mary looks away from Marshall. She focuses on the carseat that is placed on his couch. She puts Norah inside, and begins to strap her in.

"Mary? Answer the question."

As she's strapping Norah in, and attempting to ignore Marshall, a sudden wave of nausea hits her.

"Watch her," she orders, as she bolts out of the room.

Ten minutes later she returns to the living room. She finds Marshall on the couch, with Norah on his lap, and the dog lying next to them. Norah pats the top of Oscar's paws. He licks her chubby hand. Marshall looks up at Mary.

"Nice of you to join us. What's going on?"

"Nothing," she lies.

"Nothing? You just threw up, didn't you?"

"That is between me, and your toilet bowl."

"You're hung over, aren't you."

"Look don't lecture me. I am already replaying my own childhood, with Jinx. I don't need your lecture. I am a bad mother, I am hung-over... and..."

Marshall cuts her off, "You have barely left your house, and your child, for her entire existence. You needed to let off some steam. You needed a night out. No one is going to fault you for that. It's not as if you're slurping down tequila, as your bathing her. It's ok. No one thinks that you're a bad mother."

"I do."

"You have always been your toughest critic."

"You don't have any idea what my night was like."

"Please, enlighten me."

"I never should have agreed to let you watch her."

"Why not? She's fine. We had a good time. We really had fun, after Abigail left."

"What do you mean by that? You didn't screw with her sleep schedule, did you?"

"No. She woke up..."

"You didn't keep her up? Did you?"

"No. We both went back to sleep."

"You let her sleep with you, didn't you."

"It wasn't intentional."

"Marshall..."

"We fell asleep on the couch."

She rolls her eyes.

"Now," he begins, "Tell me about your night."

"I went to the grocery store, had some dinner, and went home, and went to bed. End of story."

"You drove yourself home?"

"No. We took a cab."

"We?"

"We, as in, me, myself, and I," she tries to recover.

"No," he shakes his head, "Who was we?"

"When I was at the grocery store, I bumped into someone we know."

"Oh? Who?"

"No one."

"You had dinner with him?"

"Yes," she confirms.

"And drinks? Lots of them."

"Yes."

"And then you went home with him?"

"I went home?"

"Alone?"

"No," she squirms.

"Did something happen?"

She looks at her watch, "Oh look at the time. I've got to get Norah home."

"For what?"

"We have church," she lies, taking the baby from him, and strapping her back into the carseat. She tosses the diaper bag over her shoulder, and grabs the carseat.

"One, you don't go to church," he starts, as she heads towards the door, "And two, it's Saturday."

"We watch on TV. She loves the music."

"You don't let her watch TV. You think that it melts her brain."

She stomps out to the car. He follows her. He takes the carseat from her, and straps Norah into the seat. Mary places the diaper bag in the backseat.

"Sometimes I hate that you know me so well."

"I know, it sucks, huh?"

"Look, I don't want to talk about it."

"We do need to talk," tells her, as he closes Norah's door. She slides her door shut, and walks around the front of the vehicle. She heads for the driver's seat.

"Talk about what?"

"Last night," he answers.

"Not right now," she climbs into the vehicle.


	3. Chapter 3

She walks into the office. Marshall glances up from his desk, as she walks by. She drops her bag, by her desk. As she sits down, he looks up, from his computer.

"What?" she raises her eyebrow, not looking at him.

"Nothing," he lies, returning his glance to his computer.

"Marshall? Can I ask you something?"

"Have I ever been able to stop you?"

"I haven't heard you mention anything about Abigail, in weeks, since you watched Norah."

"Abigail, and I... we're done."

"What happened?"

"I told you, we had a blowout."

"It can't be that bad."

"It was."

"Tell me about it."

"Tell me about your secret, and I'll tell you mine."

"I don't have a secret."

"Who was it."

"Why does it matter?"

"I just want to know. You said that it was someone _we _know."

"I did, I don't think that now is the time to talk about it."

"Why? Was it Stan?"

"No, of course not."

"Then why won't you tell me?"

"Later," she promises.

Hours later, they're in the car, on the way to the airport, to go retrieve a witness. Marshall remains unusually quiet, as they drive.

"Marshall, what's on your mind?"

"Nothing, I don't want to talk about it."

"That's my line," she replies.

"Mary you don't have to know about everything that goes on in my life."

"I slept with Bobby," she makes a sudden revelation.

"What?" He turns his attention from the road, to her.

"I ran into him at the grocery store."

"I didn't know that he was back."

"He's not. He was just here, for a few days."

"Oh," he refocuses his attention on the road, as he grips the steering wheel.

"Clearly, I do not make the best choices, when it comes to men."

"He's not a bad guy."

"No," she shakes her head, "he's not. He's just the wrong guy."

"What's that mean?"

"I always choose the wrong guy. You know that."

"So how did you end up in bed with him?"

"We both had a lot to drink."

"You had drinks with him.""Dinner, and drinks."

"You made it through an entire dinner with him?"

"We had a good time. We actually had a decent conversation."

"And, so then you took him home, and slept with him?"

"Why are you being so hostile?"

"I'm trying not to be."

"But you are."

"Mary, you can't have random flings..."

She cuts him off, "Don't you think that I know that? I have a child, and it was stupid. I made a stupid decision. I know that things a different now..."

"But?"

"I still have a hard time, sometimes."

"With life?"

"With not repeating the same mistakes. I'm not perfect, I'm only human."

"That's all any of us are," he reminds her.

She turns off the radio. She stares at him, as he drives.

"So now are you going to tell me, what happened with Abigail?"

"We decided that we shouldn't be together."

"Because?"

"We shouldn't."

"And the dog?"

"We continue to share custody."

"That's harsh."

"I'm ok with it."

"For the dog," Mary clarifies.

"Can we talk about something else?"

"Sure. Like what?"

"Maybe we should just try to enjoy the drive," he suggests.

She nods, and zips her lip. She stares out the window, as he drives. Buildings, and billboards whirr past.

He focuses on the road, avoiding her glance. He feels the tension between them building. He turns the radio back on.

She fidgets in her seat, as they near the airport. She adjusts her seatbelt, as they near the airport entrance.

The silence between them is unbroken, until they are in the air. Mary sits next to the window. She stares out the window, avoiding Marshall's glance, like the plague. He picks up on her nervous energy. Something she's said plays in his subconscious.

As she reaches for the skymall catalogue, in front of her, he replays the statement, in his head. He hears the words over, and over again. She flips through the well worn pages of the catalogue.

"What did you mean earlier?"

"About what?"

"When you said the thing about not repeating the same mistakes."

"I always go for the wrong guy, that's what I meant."

"No," he shakes his head.

She still refuses to look at him, "That is what I meant."

"I don't buy it. And, why are you just coming clean, now? I mean that was a month ago."

"Five weeks," she corrects.

"You're keeping track?" he raises an eyebrow.

She doesn't answer, she returns to her reading.

"You're repeating the same mistake?"

Mary continues to ignore him.

"Your keeping track tells me something."

She puts the magazine back into the pocket on the back of the seat. She stares at him, with a stern look on her face. "And what, exactly does it tell you?"

"Don't make me say it."

"Say what?"

"I am not going to ask. I do not want to know."

"Then why are you still talking?"


End file.
